Mitt Liv Som Hund (My Life as a Dog)
Sweden | 1985 | Directed by Lasse Hallström
Logline: A young mischievous boy is sent to live with his uncle after his ill mother can’t tolerate the fighting between him and his older brother.
Before Lasse Hallström became widely-known for directing the Hollywood films What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (which introduced Leonardo DiCaprio), The Cider House Rules, and Chocolat he made a distinct impression on international film festival audiences with this charming, unpretentious and unashamedly nostalgic tale of the awkwardness and innocence of pre-adolescence.
Adpated from the Reidar Jonsson novel – set in 1959 – by Hallström, Jönsson, Brasse Brännström, and Per Berglund, it tells the story of young 12-year-old Ingemar, played beautifully by Anton Glanzelius, a boy with a big heart, who can’t help but attract trouble. His teenage brother Erik (Manfred Serner) is frustrated by Ingemar’s quirks and foibles, and they squabble frequently, much to the chagrin and upset of their mother (Anki Liden), who is bed-bound for the majority of the film with some kind of crippling respiratory ailment (probably lung cancer).
The brothers intense behaviour proves to exhausting for their mother, and they are subsequently sent to live apart while she recuperates. Erik goes to boarding school, and Ingemar is sent to live with his uncle Gunnar (Tomas von Brömssen) and aunt Ulla (Kicki Rundgren) in the country. It is here that Ingemar discovers a new world of love, acceptance, mischief, and adventure. He also meets Saga (Melinda Kinnaman), a tomboy the same age as Ingemar who has everyone fooled, since she plays on the boy’s soccer team. Saga teaches Ingemar who to box, and this hobby proves to be a long-lasting bond between them.
I hadn’t seen this movie in twenty-five years, and was pleasantly surprised how it holds up. Despite a somewhat frivolous unremarkable score, the wonderful performances, and the comic nuances that riddle the narrative prove irresistible. Anton Glanzelius shines in the role of well-meaning Ingemar who spends too much time pondering and analysing life’s bittersweet ironies. The reference he keeps coming back to (which links to the movie’s curious title), is that of the Russian space dog Laika, who was sent into orbit as a scientific experiment and eventually starved to death. Ingemar compares his own concerns with that of Laika, and reminds himself things aren’t all that bad.
There are many delightful scenes throughout the movie. In fact the film is more a collection of vignettes rather than providing a substantial narrative arc. Ingemar often reminisces on a key memory, which is pretending as an old man falling over and making his mother laughs whilst they reside on the beach. It is this embedded memory, this nostalgic moment, that is the essence of My Life as a Dog, for the film is ultimately about a young boy coming to terms with the death of his dear mamma, and understanding that it was not his fault, despite his feeling of rejection from her.
The stand-out scenes, however, which linger in the mind and makes you smile, are old Mr. Arvidsson (Didrik Gustavsson), living below Gunnar and Ulla, who gets Ingemar to read to him from a lingerie catalog, and when Ingemar plays peeping tom and climbs onto the roof of the sculptor (Lennart Hjulström) and his voluptuous nude model Berit (Ing-Marie Carlsson) to get a glimpse at her “melons”, but ends up crashing through the skylight, much to the amusement of Berit. Later Ingemar relates the incident to his uncle who almost salivates, since he lusts after her.
My Life as a Dog captures the turbulence and (mis)adventure of childhood with a colour and sensitivity which is distinctly European. The film went on to win the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, and another thirteen international awards.
My Life as a Dog DVD is courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment, many thanks!
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